Unibet profits up 82% in 2014
Operator sees strong full-year growth in Western Europe, particularly in sportsbook, despite difficult final quarter
Unibet today revealed substantial growth in its Western European operations and a double digit rise in sports betting revenues drove an 82% year-on-year increase in full-year profits.
EBITDA for the 12-month period ended 31 December was £115.7m, up from £63.4m the previous year, while gross gaming revenues (GGR) increased 16% year-on-year to £312m.
The full-year growth comes despite a relatively mixed Q4 picture with GGR up 4% to £78m while EBITDA for the quarter was down 6% to £18.9m after sports betting margin tumbled to 7.8% – bringing the full-year average down to 8.6%.
GGR from the operator’s Western European markets was a key driver of full-year growth, increasing 45% year-on-year to £124.6m, offsetting a small decline in its core Nordic markets.
With GGR of 150.9m, the Nordics contributed 48% of the total, down from 54% in 2013, while Western Europe’s contribution was up from 32% to 40% of GGR.
Although no direct figures for Unibet’s Australia-facing business were given, GGR for ‘other markets’ – all of those outside of Europe – was down 16% to £9.7m.
By vertical, sportsbook enjoyed the strongest growth across the firm with GGR increasing by 31% across the year to £133.7m, with Western Europe seeing a 61% increase.
Casino remained the largest contributor with GGR of £149.8m, an increase of 14%, however, Unibet’s poker business suffered a 38% decline to £8.4m in a year which saw the launch of a new Relax Gaming-powered product on a stand-alone platform.
“In spite of a sports betting margin below the long term average, Unibet’s markets continue to show strong growth and profitability,” Unibet CEO, Henrik Tjärnström, said.
“Also our mobile offering continues to grow and is now over 43% of the gross winnings revenue,” he added.
Unibet also announced it had taken full ownership of real-money social casino operator Bonza Gaming after acquiring the remaining shares and the business will be integrated into Unibet in due course.
Bonza Gaming was formed in December 2012 following a joint venture between social casino start-up Plumbee and egaming operator Sportingbet, which later sold its 50% stake to Unibet.
The buyout comes after Unibet last month announced it had acquired the real-money gambling assets and domain of Bingo.com in a deal worth up to £5.25m.
During the first five weeks of the Q1 2015, Unibet’s average daily gross winnings revenue had increased by approximately 5% year-on-year.
Unibet’s share price was down SEK28 to SEK461 after early morning trading.